Fabric buffing wheel



J. P. HOOPER FABRIC BUFFING WHEEL Dec. 14, 1926.

Filed March 24, 1925 I UNITED sT Ares PATE

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FABRIC BUFFING WHEEL.

Thereare nowon the marketer otherwise obtainable through the regularcommercial sources, various makes of fabric bufiin Wheels consistingeach of a circular block or disk of cotton duck composed of numerousthicknesses of duck or similar fabric having a a central aperture forthe arbor. These wheels are well adapted for use in polishing metallicand similar articles having substantially regular surfaces Whether theybe flat or curved, but they are not adapte for use in lace of a softcloth to produce the final hig polish that is desired in many instancesor to clean and polish irregular surfaces as chased silverware or'thelike where the cleaning or polishing member must reach into the crevicesand must not be so hard as remove projecting portions, or where p inother .Words a comparatively soft butter 1s necessa 1 I r The, dlfiiculgincident to providing a soft butter for suc purposes is to produce onewhich meets this requirement, and is at the same time of s'ufiicientlength of life to be more elficient in operation. than a handwieldedwheels w flatten out until thgy become a shapeless mass of disintegratefibre. 7 The object of the present invention is to produce a softbutting wheel which will retain its shape and function as intendedthrough a reasonable length of life.

In the preferred form the buffing wheel of the invention consists of adisk or circular block of fabric having a central aperture for the arborand composed of alternate-layers of soft cotton padding and of duck, theduck forming the outside surface on both sides of the wheel and beingalso placed beta een the respective layers of padding. The paddin whileit may be of any suitable type is, in t eform of the invention shown andpreferably of the variety shown iii-my United States Patent No.1,471,029, dated Oct. 16, 1923. This" ype of padding has a weft orfilling of soft cotton resembling a cotton roving and a warp of threador yarn uhich is interwoven between and about the filling, holding thesoft cotton weft in posiich have been made soon flare and polishingcloth. The soft bufiing Application flled March 24,1825. Serial No.17,874.

ressing the soft city and cushiontion without undulycom cotton orreducing its elasti ing properties. a

In building up the buffer wheel the re spective thicknesses laid withthe cotton instance at right an ing wefts or r0 vin roving or weft ineach gles to the corresponds of the adjacent ayers of similar materia,the manner of laying" the .duck between the thicknesses of cottonpadding being less important, though this may to advantage be likewiselaid with the warp. and filling of each layer of duck at r1 ht angles tothe warp' and filling ,of the a jacent layersof the duck. f I When thefabric is thus laid in the construction of each \wheel, it is preferablystitched through and through with a series of spaced circular seamsconcentric with the wheel and with the central opening therein for thearbor, and also with a series of radial seams which ma loop or U-shapedcurve spaced sllghtly outwardl from the centre or in the form of a V witthe vertices near the centre so as to give sufiicient room for thestitchin y In the preferred form the U-shaped or looped seams arecombined with the V-type radial seam.' a I Within the scope of myinvention I also provide the buffing wheels when desired of cottonpadding are be either 'arran ed with a T OFFICE.

with an abrasive element which may be com- V posed of afinely powderedabrasive as tripoli, corundum, rouge or pumice applied to the fabric inthe form of'a paste before assembling the wheel. This may be applied toall of the materials or to the soft padding only, or to alternate layersof the Soft ding, and the paste may be formed by mixing with the finelypowdered abrasive either water, adhesive, a drying oil or a non'dryingoil, depending u on the character of. the work to be done and the natureof the articles to be buffed. The paste may be made thin and the fabricwhich is so treated may be saturated with it, or the abrasive may beotherwise applied to the fabric within the scope of my in vention,

In the :mcon'ipanying r'lrawing I have illustrated preferred andsecondary form of pad- ' larged scale.

. fabric and padding broken away to'disclose bufier wheel constructed inaccordance with 7 my Y 7 p of soft cotton or similar This padding, asshown,

invention. In the drawings- Figure 1 is a side elevation of thepreferred form of wheel. v

Figure 2 is a plan of the same. Fi ure 3 is a'fragmentary section ontheline 3 of Figure 1 and on a somewhat en- Figure 4 is a fragmentaryperspective of the wheel showing the different layers of the underlyingportions Figure 5 is a side elevation ofa slightly modified formof-wheel in accordance with the invention.

Referrin to-the drawings by numerals, each of which is used to indicate,the same or similar parts in thedifi'erent figures, the bufling wheel1', as shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 consists otfour layers orthicknesses padding 2,3, 4,15. consists of parallel lines or strands 6of soft cotton and a knitted thread mesh 7 consisting of loops or otherarrangement of the threads extending transversely to the soft strandsand holding the soft strands in position. This is the preferredarrangement, though the minute details described are-not regarded asessential to the invention. The alternate adjacent layers or thicknessesof cotton paddingv this 2, 3,4, 5,. are preferabl "arranged with thesoft strands 6 resembling roving which though described as of cotton,maybe of any suita le fibre, at right angles to each other, that is thesoft strands 6 of the layers or thicknesses of cotton padding 2and. 4are at right an les or at an angle approaching aright ang e to the softstrands 6 of the layers of padding 3 and 5.

While thecotton padding arranged as described presents a considerableresistance to wear, it is preferably sustained by alternate layers ofduck 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or other material, sufficiently soft and havingsuflicient supporting and wear-resisting properties for purpose. Thealternate layers of duck 8, 10, 12 may to advantage be placed with theirwarp and weft at right angles to the respective warp and weft threads ofthe alternate intermediate layers 9 and 11.

Each of the bufiing members 1 is preferably of a disk form with acentral aperture 14for the arbor. v The respective layers of materialmay be secured together in any suitable manner. Preferably and as shown,the thicknesses or layers of fabric are sewed together by circular seams15 sewed through and through the registering overlying layers of paddingand duck or other'fabric and concentric with .the arbor hole 14 and inaddition to the concentric seams 15, in the form shown in Figures 1, 2,3, and 4, I have also shown radial centric seams 15, the circular"exceedingly difficult an layers of seams 16, and placed intermediatelyof the radial seams 16 I haveshown alternatelyplaced U-pattern seams 17having their legs 18 substantially radial and the bend of the U, 19

tangent to one of the inner circles 15, though this exact arrangement isnot essential, and in addition to the main U-shaped seams '17,

I have shown lesser intermediate 'U-pattern seams 20, having theirlegsradial and the bend of the U tangent to one of the intermediatecircular seams '15.

In Figure 5, I have shown a ferent form of buffer wheel having thethrough and through seams diflt'erently ar- C v wheel has circularconseams in both instances being preferably continuous for ranged. Thisbufier convenience in sewing, and radialv V-seams' 21 extendingoutwardly. from -one of the circular seams 15 near the centre but spacedslightly outwardly to prevent undue thickening and rigsdity of thecentral portion. 1'

. own in this connection four rahave also s dial seams 16.

While soft buiier wheels have been found desirable .for various'urposes, it hasbeen hasany considproduce a soft/wheel which this erablelength of life suflicient to make type of wheel commerciallg structuredisclosed is foun to serve the purpose to great advantage, as thearrangement. of cotton padding between the duck with the circular seamsand of the layers the radial seams provides a soft wheel which willperform the give the highest olish and at the same time has a considerabe length of life.

The abrasive material referred to in the preamble is not shown in thedrawing, as it does not necessarily change the appearance of the fabricas illustrated.

The arrangement of the particular type of padding described with thesoft cotton strands 6 in the alternate layers at right angles to eachother, is of great advantage as the fabric as shown with the threadloops7 almostimpossible to acceptable. The

finest bufling operation and slightlydiff a tends to retain its shapeand the arrangement 7 of the soft strands at right angles, so that theends of substantially half of these soft. strands or an average of halfof them are presented atthe operative edge ofthe wheel at all points isof great advantage in that it gives a uniform polishing effect and pre-'vents disintegration, and with the protec tion incident to thearrangement of the alter-' 3 nate layers of duck with the through andthrough sewing, gives a wheel the length of life which comparesfavorably even with the solid duck wheels and which is much moreeffective where asoft bufiing efi'ect is* desired.

I have thus described specifically and in detail two slightly difierentforms of my invention in order that the nature and operation of thedevice may be fully understood; however, the specific terms herein areused ties than the padding serving to protect the descriptively ratherthan in a limitin sense,

v the scope of the invention being de ned in padding and preventdisintegration of the wheel, and means for securing the respectivelayers together.

2. A buffer wheel composed of layers of padding, the padding consistingof arallelt soft strands and transverse threads olding the soft strandsin position, alternate layers of a flexible material having greater wearresisting properties than the padding serving to protect the padding andprevent disintegration of the wheel, and means for securin therespective layers together.

i ned by me at Baltimore, Maryland, thi 23d day of March, 1925.

JAMES P. HOOPER. I

